The Helga G Pataki Stories
by Eule Vix
Summary: Only 3 months after Arnold, his family, and the class returned from San Lorenzo, Arnold has to move leaving Helga behind. 4 years later after Helga starts High School and though she thinks she's grown up a lot in four year, she slowly, with many events realizes she has more to learn then she thought. HelgaxArnold
1. Goodbye, Arnold

A/N: So I've edited this chapter heavily, felt it would be better to throw everything is a slightly different direction. I have the second chapter almost done, I just had to put it on pause due to school starting up. But I have good news! I completed my last semester and now have my AAS in Culinary Arts! Yay me! This means also that I will take a year break from school for a while (about a year) so during this time I will mainly be just working which means more time for me to start writing, again!

Again, each chapter was to be written as an episode, I think I will break the chapters up into parts if they go over 10,000 words (it's what's up with chap 2 right now.) so we'll see how this all works. (I just don't want to give you all extremely long chapters all the time.)

I hope that you enjoy the story and if you have any ideas for a chap please feel free to tell me them in a review! (I've got almost all of them planned out but I need some more ideas for the summer eps.) Either way please enjoy!

Disclaimer: First, I do NOT own Hey Arnold! Or any of the characters or plot or anything related to Hey Arnold!

Hope you enjoy the story and please Read and Review!

Chapter 1: Goodbye Arnold

She had been blinded by love for so many, many years. Love wasn't just about having the butterflies in your stomach or the way the one you loved made you swoon or how many poems of shrines you made for then or even how many years you waited for them. When it came done to it real love was the ability to be able to spend the rest of your life happily with another. The ability to not only love deeply but be stable, happy, be able to overcome the challenges that life brought forth, to be able to be realistic and understanding of one another and still after years and years of being together still love that person as you did before. Butterflies and poems are just the start of loves journey and not many of the journeys that people take last. For Helga, she just had a lot to learn before she was truly ready to take that journey.

It was just towards the end of the day, some of the colors of the sun setting could be seen splashed against the sky, the noise of the city surrounded them as they stood outside a ways from both of their homes, far enough to be away from the prying eyes of at least their peers. It would have been a nice time, except again Helga and Arnold were having a small lovers quarrel.

"I don't get it Helga!" Arnold yelled up at her, though he was 10 now and still growing he was still just a bit shorter than her. "It's been three months now and you still act rude and mean to me! I know how you feel Helga I just don't understand why you are still so scared!?"

"Can it buck-o! I don't need a lecture from you I can act as I please and do as I please!" Helga hurt at his words but didn't show it, it wasn't the first time she had again messed up and been unable to break her old habits of just being mean to her beloved Arnold, she couldn't stop herself though. "And Helga g. Pataki ain't afraid of NOTHING!" She clenched her fists tightly and tried to stare as much fire and she could muster down into Arnold's eyes. Arnold did something that threw her odd guard a bit, he's features softened and he reached and touched her face.

"Helga you know how I feel about you. And the last thing I want is for our last time to…" He stopped himself before he could finish. All he wanted to do is just calm her down and let her know that he cared her, a lot, that she can stop fighting for there's no reason to fight and there hasn't been since they got back from San Lorenzo. He didn't want for his last day with her to be filled with a fight.

"What did you say?" Helga now spitting her words with the venom she had before been holding back. "You better tell me now geek-bait and tell me the truth!" She didn't realize when she did but now she was holding him by his shirt and close enough that their noses touched. Arnold gulped.

"I…" He knew this would just exacerbate her more and he didn't know how she was going to react, he had to calm her down enough to at least make sure she wouldn't do anything that would hurt her self, or the both of them.

He put his hands on her shoulders and felt her immediately relax underneath his touch, it was now or never and she had to be told it was inevitable. Arnold's heart quivered as though it was about to break and his emotions tumbled and churned causing a storm that rained upon his soul. Right now he was looking out from under the only dry place left staring out at the rain he knew he would have to walk though, the unavoidable rain of breaking the heart of the one he cared so much about.

"I….I'm moving Helga." He felt heart sting as he say the tear suddenly well up in her eyes, he didn't want to do this.

Helga didn't know what to do, it didn't matter what was happening before or why they were arguing, all that crossed her mind was that Arnold was leaving. Her grip on his shirt loosened and she backed away from him, she couldn't touch him or even look at him for if she did she would break in front of him and be unable to stop it. She threw up her defenses best she could, she blinked back her tears and clenched her fists as tight as she could holding onto the last piece of rope that was holding her together.

"Lis…listen Football-head, go ahead and do what you want. I don't care and I don't think the rest of the neighborhood cares either weather you leave or not." Her body felt numb, it was all she could do, she had to just hold her emotions back long enough to get out of there, she didn't want to show anyone she was weak especially Arnold.

"Helga," His voice cracked and it was hard for him to get almost any words out. "I don't want to leave. It's just…my Parents, they" He was cut off.

"So just go!" She found her self on the brink of screaming, "Just prance out of here with your family, as soon as your gone I'm sure we'll be throwing a party that finally your out of the neighborhood!"

"Helga, I know you don't mean that."

Arnold's eyes filled with worry as watched Helga, he hated to leave yes, but he didn't want to ever leave his parents sides again not now that he had them. Miles and Stella both have been busy with interviews of their travels and were constantly being bombarded with questions from their colleagues of their findings while in the jungle of San Lorenzo. Though they never mentioned anything about the Green Eyes they had a million other things they worked on while there, and because of this they both were offered jobs, just not in the neighborhood of Hillwood. Arnold reached over and grasped one of Helga's hands.

"I know it's sudden, I know we've already had our share of fights since we started dating. But..." He had wanted to say that he didn't want to let her go, that maybe they could try to make things work out some how with the distance. Before he could finish Helga ripped her hand out of his tears streaming down her eyes and her defenses almost completely gone.

"I DON'T WANT TO HEAR IT ARNOLD! IT'S NOT LIKE YOU CARE ANYWAY!" she yelled as loud as she could before turning from her love and bolted. Arnold called for her and ran after her, but she never heard him and quite quickly she lost him.

Helga was not ready for at all. She moved her legs with all the strength she could muster tears free falling down her face. She took alleyways all the way home not just to lose Arnold but to keep herself from the sight of any prying eyes. She was crying, her, Helga G. Pataki, crying! This was never supposed to happen. The love of her life, her dream, her prince, the one who she would always adore, the one who would bring the light into her darkest hours, who would always be the crusader of justice against all that was wrong, the one whom without she would fall apart and crumble into many pieces from the constant bashing of the world! And now her golden haired angle, her beautiful knight with his oddly shaped foot-ball head, was leaving her!

She ran home and when she got home she quickly ran to her bedroom. She slammed her door shut and locked it to make sure she would have some time alone. Helga then quickly moved to her closet, flung back the clothes and revealed her shrine to Arnold. In her mind she went over everything that had happened in the past 3 months, and she was just told now by her beloved, and she collapsed in front of her shrine weeping more then she felt she would ever again in her lifetime weep.

Arnold found himself on the door step of Helga's home. He felt horrible, he knew she didn't mean what she said, but everything he wanted to have happen just seemed to blow up in his face. Arnold took a deep breath and rang the door bell of the Pataki house hold and the grip on the small white envelope in this hand tightened. It was the last thing he wanted to do before leaving, he just wished he could have given it to her in person. After a moment the door was answered by Big Bob.

"Who's there?" Big Bob grunted semi-frustrated. He looked down and saw 10 year old Arnold looking up at him, a big fake grin on his face holding something that he quickly moved behind his back. "Oh, it's just you, what da' want? The Wheel's on so I ain't got much time."

"I wanted to know if I could talk with Helga for a moment, I have something I want to give her."

"Look kid as far as I know she's up in her room sleeping. It's late and I don't wanna have to worry about someone else's kid running around my house. So beat it!" Bob tried to close the door but Arnold quickly put his foot in the way of the door closing.

Luckily Bob didn't try to close it hard at all. Bob re-opened the door about to say something to Arnold, but was beaten to the punch.

"No! Wait, please Mr. Pataki can you please give this to Helga! It's very important." Arnold held out the white letter out with the best grin he could muster.

Bob looked at the letter and then looked at Arnold with half lidded eyes that easily expressed how much he did not want to partake in some child's wish, especially Arnold's. However it was just a stupid letter, and a easy task of slipping it under Helga's door, and the sooner he said yes the sooner he could get to his Soaps.

"Fine kid," Bob snatched the letter from Arnold, then yelled "now SCRAM!" and slammed the door in Arnold's face.

Arnold blinked staring at the door for a moment not sure really what to feel. He was happy Big Bob took his letter, but he didn't feel the best after getting yelled at by an adult and then having the same adult slam a door in his face. Either way he thought that for now his mission was done and he just had to wait until tomorrow.

*BANG* *BANG*

"OLGA! A boy just came by and left some crummy letter. Just don't disturb me for the rest of the night, it's the big Wheel Marathon and I don't want to miss a second!" Big Bob yelled from behind Helga's door, not even really trying to open it.

"CRIMINEY Big Bob for the LAST time it's HELGA!" she screamed as loud as she could, which now wasn't much since her throat had become somewhat raw from her crying. She heard something get tossed under her door as some of the blanket she now had on her had fallen off her shoulder as she leaned up to yell and look at the door. She heard her father's footsteps as he walked down stairs to watch his stupid TV shows. Once she could hear the faint dull white noise of the TV she then allowed herself to gaze up at the shrine.

"Oh why my dearly beloved, why must you leave me alone with my poor excuse for a family! You are my longing and my love and yet, though we are together, I still cannot find it within myself to show you my true feelings! I pine to be able to show you the kind and tender Helga you know to be here! And yet I always find some way to make a fool of myself and fall back into old ways despite that I have you now!" Helga sat up from her laying down position and grabbed the shrine Arnold's head.

"I have tasted heaven on your lips and now to only have you willfully taken from me, oh Arnold! Why must fate torment me so? Why must I be cursed, for me to not see your golden flaxen hair and football-shaped head is a death sentence to my soul! Though I do not show it I know you are not blind my darling, you might have been before but not now! I know that you understand what lies beneath my hardened shell, and yet on this night the will of the world threatens to crush that which is inside of me by removing the only light which I have in my life!"

Helga again laid on the floor and curled up into a ball. She didn't care about the letter right now, she didn't want to feel any worse than she did at the moment. She cradled the head of her shrine in her hands and whimpered as she let a few more tears stream down her face.

"Oh Arnold, if only I wasn't so ridged in my ways, if only I was able to control the beast which is my anger and frustration to keep it at bay or directed at those who deserve it! Oh Arnold…." She voice was horse, her face red from crying, her body felt as though she had been beaten and battered. She pulled her object of affection closer to her. She felt as though she had lost, or maybe that she was lost, and shook and shivered as thoughts raced in her mind. She had to find some way to pull herself back together but how was she to do that when she couldn't stop herself from breaking to pieces in the first place.

When Helga woke up she felt horribly sore from sleeping on the floor and emotionally sick from all the crying she did during the night. It was morning and it was now Saturday, the day Arnold was to leave if he had not already left. At this point she was not only too sleepy and sore to cry that and she had cried herself into a numbness almost canny to when she took that stupid supposed love potion so long ago. She was a little glad though that Arnold picked a weekend to tell her he was leaving, otherwise she would not be attending her 5th grade classes today if it wasn't.

She dragged herself off the floor and went to lay on her bed when she looked over at the door, remembering Big Bob said something about a letter last night. She left it be though, she was still pretty upset and didn't want to start up again. She looked at the clock and saw that it was pretty early still, 6:29 AM, and decided that she'll just read the letter once she woke up again and she pulled herself into bed. Because of the horrible nights sleep she got she quickly feel asleep, sadly only to have nightmares of Arnold never coming back and living alone for the rest of hers.

Helga's eyes opened quickly, she still felt hollow inside from the night before and her dream. She sat into a full sitting position, her breath was heavy as though she was running and her eyes were wide. She blinked a couple of times realizing she was in her bedroom. She looked over at her clock which said 11:47AM now, she was amazed she slept so long especially with the dream she had. She calmed down first, breathing in deeply, and then threw the blankets off to the side. She paused for a moment thinking about her dream, how when Arnold left he seemed to become erased from the world, every ever she went she was tormented seeing shapes and things that reminded her of him, she ran through on foot from city to city looking for him. In her dream years passed by, school continued, the torture of her seeing him everywhere haunted her, she wrote poems of want that was never fulfilled, and when she talked about Arnold no one understood who he was. The dream ended with her still walking the town of Hillwood searching for her beloved but as an old woman, still hurt from his in-existence, the torment of him just beyond her reach, and that she was more alone then she had ever been before.

*BANG* *BANG* *BANG*

This time the door knob made a metal clanking sound of trying to be opened, Helga realized she forgot she locked her door. She quickly got up and went to unlock the door since she guess it was probably her father, which before she was off the bed his voice rang out to confirm.

"Olga open this blasted door! You've been sleeping all morning!" He was still trying to jiggle open the knob.

Helga unlocked the door and pulled it open. Last night she was upset to a fevered point, and right now, she just didn't care, and so she didn't even bother to correct her father this time.

"What is it, DAD?" Helga spat as she glared up at her father.

"Oh good your up, was almost worried about you. Anyway get dressed and get out of here I'm having a big investor over and I don't want you to mess it up or something."

"Whatever will get you out of my hair, Big Bob." Her father yelled something about 'That's good' and something else about 'Beepers' as he went down the stairs. She closed the door again and before she went to go get dressed she decided that it was about time to read the stupid letter she got.

It didn't take her long to realize that it was the artist of her heart, her muse, her passion, that has written the letter.

She stood in her room though, reading the letter over and over again. Excited of what he was able to do but she wondered if it would even be worth it. She would just mess things up again and ruin anything he tried to do. Not on purpose but as who she was, still trapped in the grasp of her fears that he couldn't really help her from. If he thought it was hard for her to tell him she loved him, it would be unthinkable for him to get her to admit she was afraid, let alone shed that fear.

It was her last chance, and she didn't want to push him away to the point where he really would never return to her. There wasn't much time.

She ran to her dresser quickly grabbing clean fresh clothes and changed into them as quickly as she could. After she got on her shoes and quickly made her hair she ran out of her room, down the stairs, quickly turned her head to call out to her parents that she was leaving which she knew they would care anyways, and run out the door towards the boarding house.

_Helga,_

_Look these past few months being with you I wouldn't trade for anything in the world, and I hope that it's the same for you. I can't change what' happening Helga, it' just how life is._

_The plan was that we were to leave tomorrow morning, I hope that you get this before then for I have something to give you before I go. I'll be waiting, so see you then._

_Arnold_

Arnold lay on the couch in his room gazing up at the ceiling. His heart panged as he thought about how this would no longer be his room, that he would be leaving all his memories of the 4th grade, his best friend Gerald, and Helga behind. Helga. He turned onto his side on the couch and too to staring out the little half-moon window. She often crossed his mind for many years, she always bullied him and was always the one that would anger him to points he never thought he would cross. However in the last few months of the 4th grade she confessed to him on that fated roof, though he suggested that it was the 'heat of the moment' and she said that it was, something in him clicked. During the school trip to San Lorenzo not only did he find his parents but during the trip he had been so conflicted with his feelings for Helga, and by the middle of the trip in the heat of the jungle he realized he returned her feelings even if just a little.

Once they got back they started to date, but she would always treat it as though none of it ever happened and wanted to keep their relationship secret. Arnold ruffled his messy blond hair. 'Why is she always so frustrating!' Arnold sighed and decided to head downstairs to grab some lunch. As he walked down his stairs and the hallways of the boarding house he pondered how Helga might have been if he stayed, how he would feel about her, would he like her more than he did now, or love her like she loved him. He shook his head telling himself he was just in the 4th grade and love is something he doesn't want to rush. But Helga made he feel…different, he couldn't place it. He didn't have much time to ponder it as he heard his name called out by his Father telling him it was time they headed out and they couldn't wait any longer.

Arnold sighed and frowned as there was still no sign of Helga. Maybe everything she told him on the FTi building was a lie. She hasn't told him anything remotely close to that day, so maybe it really was the 'heat of the moment'. Arnold balled his fists up angry that he even considered giving his time to her if all she planned to do was mess with him again. 'Maybe,' he thought 'it's a good thing she didn't show up.'

_4 Years Later_

Helga looked up at her new school, her grey beanie hat snugly on her head hiding her old pink bow now tied around her neck as a small scarf, she wore her pink and white shirt and a pair of blue jeans that were ripped at the knees. It was the first day at Hillwood High and she was waiting for her best friend Phoebe to show up. Helga crossed her arms impatiently as Phoebe kept her waiting. They planned to meet up so they could pick up their class schedule together. For some reason Phoebe feverently wanted Helga to just meet her outside of the Cafeteria's more east doors. Small trickles of kids fell along the sidewalk passing her by, talking about their nerves being on edge for the first day of school.

Helga sighed again and moved so she could look past a small wall that jutted out from the side of the Cafeteria so she could see the parking lot and scan for her small Asian friend. In the distance over by the Gym she saw Phoebe, but what really caught her eye was the tall dark skinned boy that was walking hand in hand with her. Helga rolled her eyes, 'So THAT''s why she wanted to just meet me at school. She could have just told me.' It didn't take long for Helga to start thinking about her old love for Tall-Hair boy's best friend. Helga's heart hurt as though yet another pin was pushed into a over filled cushion. She turned away from the couple as she headed in some random direction towards the other side of the campus. Anywhere so she could get away from the sight of the couple.

As she waiting she suddenly felt a longing that would often come about when she was alone. She reached in her shirt and pulled out a heart shaped locket with the picture of her and Arnold together that they took in the park so long ago. She smiled a bit as she looked at it, she remembered when she finally got this new locket it was like she lost limb or something was finally replaced. It was worth it though losing it in the first place. She felt the key that was now strung on the chain alongside it hit her fingers lightly as she held it tightly. She was now very aware of the firm object nestled against her chest, warm from her body heat it now felt as though it burned her skin. She thought of her anguish, of her love for the boy, of her want to see him, and her want to just leave him behind and move on with her life. Once she came to the farthest most secluded edge of the campus, an area that later she found out was the Science building and that she would end up visiting on a fairly regular basis. It had been 4 years since she say the little twerp, 4 years since she had talked to him, and 4 years since she had felt like her old self. Again feeling as though she was a pot about to burst it's lid off and over boil all that she held inside of her, she reached inside her shirt and fumbled with the metal object. She grabbed the chain that held the locket around her neck. She felt her muscles boil with hurt, anger, and loneliness as she pulled the chain, it could not hold again the pain the girl felt and let out a twang of metal breaking.

The past 4 years for her had been hell like no other. Without her muse to be there and at least give her a shining glimmer that there was something better that there was a chance that maybe one day she could just be happy her life had been left to the dark void that was her family and classmates. The darkmatter of their hate and neglect to her had slowly been eating away at the girl. For a few years the locket has been a saving grace by now it was nothing but a painful reminder of the day that she was shone that she could never be happy, and fate was against her. Her fists tight around the chain, her skin red with her grip, she readied to throw it. Softly, the high-clang of metal on metal could be heard and Helga froze, the sound sending a wave though her body that vibrated deep into her body, it's fingers reaching and touching all of her inside searching till it found the last shred of hope that somehow was not ripped from her. A little silver key, white against the deep yellow gold of the locket hung in front of the picture of a much younger Arnold. she moved the locket for her to gaze at, not for the picture but for the key that sung to her. Helga's anger was lost, her body becoming numb as her thoughts turned to that last day she saw Arnold…

_The last box was backed into the car by Arnold's father Miles as he hugged his Grandpa, tears stinging in the corners of the young boys eyes._

"_I'm going to miss you Grandpa."_

"_Don't stay too long away from the ranch Cowboy, too much work for me to do it's alone." Arnold's Grandma chimed at him, a bright smile folded in the warm wrinkles on her face._

_Arnold laughed lightly, "I'll make sure to visit Grandma!" Arnold moved to her and squeezed her tightly._

_Stella came around from the front side of the truck as Miles came out of the back, everything inside set in place and the trip ready to be had. Arnold tuned and walked up to his parents as his Dad pulled the sliding gate shut._

"_I…I think I'm ready Mom." Arnold's voice was shaky. He still didn't want to go, he was leaving all of his friends, the town he helped to defend, Big Pete, Gerald's Field, all of his memories behind. He reached into his pocket, a brand new key scratched against his fingers. There was still Helga too, so much was unfinished with her it was almost like he had made no progress with her since FTI, and as much trouble she cause him he didn't want to let her be the only person he didn't say goodbye to. He glanced around, hoping that maybe it'd happen like something in a story where at the last minute she would come running up and things would be as bad as they were now._

_Nothing, the morning streets of Hillwood were stirring in a low mumble as people went to work, shopped, or ran errands but they were empty of the girl her searched for. His heart sunk, she had just done this to mess with him, again. He should have expected it. Helga was Helga, she was mean and bullied him and hated him and just wanted him to be her live toy to play with._

_The loud grinding of gears and sputter of the truck starting behind him knocked him out of his thoughts. His Mother put hear head out of the driver's seat, a sad smile on her face._

"_Let's go Arnold."_

_Arnold nodded, and pulled the key out of his pocket. It no longer mattered, she no longer mattered, he was moving and should just move on with his life as she was obviously was with hers. He threw the key as far away as he could down the walkway hearing it clang against the concrete. He turned towards the car, a frown plastered on his face as he pulled himself into the vehicle and closed the door. He waved to his Grandparents one more time, a forced smile on his young face._

_Around the corner of an alley burst Helga, she stopped in from of a little Silver key that she had scene clatter to the ground just a few moment ago. She looked to her right to see a grey moving truck moving away from the boarding house. She snatched up the key and pushed her legs to continue to move. She didn't want it to end like this at all. She felt her shoes flex with her foot as she pushed and maneuvered every muscle she could in hopes to catch up to the moving chariot taking away her golden haired love god. She didn't want it to end like this. The truck's load made it so that she still had a chance, she began to gain on it, being no more than ten feet away, just a little more and maybe she could grab one of the silver handles on the side and make it, get them to stop and just give her one last moment with her knight of all that was good and right. She didn't want it to end like this! Pain shot though her legs as she continued to strain her muscles, her breath not enough to provide it with the oxygen it needed, she began to slow. 'I can't let it end like this!' The truck started to gain speed, the engine finally picking up the weight of all the boxes and furniture inside, she quickly took a ragged breath as deep as she could._

"_Arnold!" Arnold had been near the window, arm propped up holding the right side of his face, when he heard the distant call of his name. His eyes went wide as he perked up and looked to his parents. Neither of them were focused on him and instead consumed in their own talk of the plans for the next few weeks. Arnold then turned his gaze out the window and looked behind the truck the best he could even with the seat belt restricting him. Arnold froze as he saw Helga running behind the truck._

_Helga didn't notice the jutting ledge of a piece of sidewalk that had been displaced by the heat in the summer time months ago and as she pasted over it, like the cold hands of fate the edge grabbed the tip of her left shoe. The key that was tightly gripped in Helga's hand flew from her grasp as she came to kiss the grey solid. Once she was no longer moving forward, she moved to get up, she didn't want the truck to get out her sight. Once up, in the distance the metal contraption that was taking her beloved away turned to the right, the Football headed boy's eyes locked onto Helga. Helga held her right elbow that stung and was slick underneath her fingers, her face stung, and he legs shook threatening to drop her to the ground again with any more strenuous movement. Time seemed to slow for her, she knew that there was no way she could catch up that all her effort was wasted effort. If she was going to say anything she needed to say it now it didn't matter if he couldn't hear her or even if it mattered. Fate took almost every chance for her to say it, and she would be damned if she just stood there like a loon as Arnold lowly moved out of her sight for good. Time returned to normal for Helga as she quietly breathed two words she wanted more than anything to tell him in much different scenario. She could feel liquid start to pool and slide slowly down her face, she was unsure if it was tears or blood._

"_Goodbye Arnold."_

She gazed at the key fighting with all her strength to hold back tears. She remembered how later the year after that she found that the cut silver piece belonged to the long time locked and forgotten sky roof door. Why she tried the key out on that night on that door she swore only the rain that was pouring that night and the twisting hurt in her heart would know that truth, but the reasons behind the key eluded her. She took the broken chain off the locket and key, both now loose in her hands as she placed the locket back against her chest and the key into her pocket.

She had for years wanted to throw the locket away, but by some miracle the corn-flour haired boy somehow still had some influence on her as for her the key was her last silver lining to keeping the young boy close to her heart.

She headed towards the school's front offices heading there to pick up her class list and took a few deep breaths as she turned about the corner of a large white building with large red letters that noted it as the library. Helga adjusted her beanie as she strode closer towards an endless line of students all waiting for their designated list of cells for them to spend the rest of the year in. Helga threw up her scowl as she clicked into her bully-self shoving a few students at the front of the line out of her way. She demanded to the startled faculty work her paper, angrily giving her last name, and then ripping the paper out of the women's hands before heading towards her first class listed on the paper. The cool metal of the locket had started to warm and now seemed to melt into her for by the time Helga started up the stairs she could no longer feel the metal heart or the little key of hope in her pocket.

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	2. Art Class

Disclaimer: I do NOT own Hey Arnold! and all Hey Arnold! characters belong to Nick and Craig

Chapter 2: Art Class

A BIG THANK YOU to Ashikai for letting me use their art for the Cover Picture! Check them out on DeviantArt!

For it being the start of the first day of High School for Helga she found everything seemed to be going her way so far, much better than it had before classes even started. She got the classes she figured would be an easy A and was even lucky to be sharing a class with Pheebs! It was Social Studies but having Phoebe there made it look as though this year would be a breeze, regardless of what mode she was in Phoebe could brighten up her day just enough so she could at least make it thought the day. Helga wasn't happy, but it was another done over with, and that was always a nice thought for her.

"Let's see…" Helga studied her paper that had the detailed list of her classes, first was English 1-2, like it would be a challenge at all! Because of all those years of writing poetry Helga found that any English class came as a breeze. Helga didn't stay on the thought of her Poetry for long. She knew if she did she would easily become melancholy and if there was anything Helga didn't want to do is repeat this morning's internal turmoil. She saved her times of loneliness and love for when she was at home and had not only the ability to left her feelings be free but let her pen be free upon the pages of one of her little pink books.

Continuing down the halls, taking in the details of the halls around her, kids her age and older running about the halls in a buzz, some with friends, others by themselves with either some headphones in their ears or their nose in a book, and many others just glancing between their schedule's and the various doors in the hall looking lost. The red brick walls were empty except for a few flyers which as Helga passed noticed they were from previous years, maybe even longer. Areas where the brick stopped were painted an ugly egg-shell white and when she got a chance to peek inside the class rooms she noticed they were the same color. She came to a pair of double grey metal doors as she went back outside to head towards a small concrete stairwell crowded with students going up and down them. She headed to the second floor reminiscing slightly about the halls of P.S. 118. She soon was face to face with a red metal door, the entrance to her first experience at High School and found herself to be nervous. She paused with her normal scowl on her face. 'Why do I feel nervous? I shouldn't be nervous I'm Helga, Helga G. Pataki! I've done things scarier than this so I have no reason to be nervous.' She breathed in deep, opened the door, and stomped inside.

Her next few minutes consisted of searching for a desk, she was lucky enough that the teacher was letting them all pick their own seats and so she chose one to the back of the class. Yeah the class would be an easy A but she was not here to impress people, she just wanted her grade and to be out of that class as quick as she could. She sat on her desk and took out her pencil and a notepad and started to scribble odd doodles of the odd people that were in her class. Her first target was the teacher, she had her dark brown hair up in a bun with a single pin though the back. Helga not only noticed that she was abnormally tall, but that her bun was set in a manner that she looked like she had a pile of crap on her head. Helga snickered as she crafted her own rendition of what the teacher looked like.

"Class, please settle down. We're going to get started." For looking like a twig with shit on top she had a very strong and commanding voice Helga thought. Helga couldn't tell if this made her respect her or if she was going to end up being a female version of Lieutenant Major Goose from 4th grade.

"I'm Mrs. Patricia, you can call me Mrs. Pat or Mrs. P if you want." Good signs so far, Helga relaxed as she was sure that shit-for-brains wasn't going to be making her 'Drop and give her fifty' anytime soon.

Helga went back to doodling as the teacher slowly went over everything in the syllabus, which was always the same with every teacher. The more the time passed the more elaborate her doodles became. There was a large red-headed girl who looked like one of those frosted jelly-filled donuts she had snuck into class and was currently munching. Helga drew a picture reflecting this with a title for her saying 'The Cannibal '. A lanky kid who looked way to eager to please and it was way to easy to tell he was the teacher's pet since he was on the edge of his seat and jotting down notes as Mrs. P went dully over what they would do in class. While Helga was busy doodling she heard the teacher cross a subject she had crossed before a few times now, her hat.

"Helga, as I've just noted we don't allow hats within the classroom, so please remove your hat." There were a lot of things Helga didn't do, and taking her hat off was one of them. She had been prepared for this and reached in her pocket and looked up sweetly.

"Oh, but Mrs. P! I have a horrible condition that requires me to wear this hat! See, here is my note." Having being forced into a few more plays via the courtesy of PS 118 and her knowing Lila decently now knew how to lay on the 'honey' when it came to wooing teachers on the first day to believe whatever she said. It was also amazing what her parents gave her in cash just to get her out of their hair sometimes, it was quite a dozy when she was finally able to bribe the doc into making the note as well. Mrs. Patricia looked over the note and raised her eyebrows at Helga who continued to smile a sickly sweet smile. She then handed the note back a defeated look on her face.

"Ok, but class keep in mind that unless you have a note like Helga then you cannot wear hats into class, or…." Helga put her note back in her pocket carefully, she would be needing it all day. She went back to drawing figures of her class mates again noticing one that looked like his head was a black greasy mop.

Helga continued this for the whole class, giving each of her class mates their own names and her own version of them. She was forced to stop at one point in order to play along with the classes 'Ice Breaker' game. She needed to write two truth's and a lie and then present it to the class, she was too tempted to write some of the things she thought of her class mates, but because she didn't want detention on the first day she went some basic info. She hated having to do these ridiculous 'ice breakers' and grimaced when she figured she would probably have to do them in every class. She wrote the three down on the note card and then again in her note book to keep her from forgetting them so she could use them for the next class. After that the bell rang for them all to shuffle over to their next class.

Helga was going down her list of classes yet again, it was the last class of the day. She thought about how right she was with the ice breakers since so far three out of five classes so far had used the same one. She couldn't complain too much, it made for an easy day and Helga got to pass notes and chat with Phoebe in her class before they went to lunch. She just left her Math class with a obviously beloved but very old teacher. Helga tried to draw something mean about her but she couldn't for it felt like she was just kicking a child who did nothing wrong. She could be a bitch but she was not cold hearted. Beside the teacher, Mrs. Walker, had a system set up the Helga liked very much. They had this childish calendar they had to use to track their homework and actually turn it in, which set Helga off at first, but she explained that if you did turn it in and drew some crap on the back she would give you extra credit for every one you turned in. Sounded like an easy A to Helga's ears so what harm could it be to include a few sketches.

Her last class was her second extracurricular class, Art, and her first being P.E. Nothing special happened there, the teacher just gave them their lockers and told them the attire they were to wear when they got to P.E. Helga noticed that she had Nadine and Lila in her class so she would at least have a few people to talk to when she wasn't putting everyone else in their place.

She crossed the second stairs bridge towards the AP building, or at least that's where her schedule said it was. She entered though some more metal grey doors and upon entering she could already tell that it was all of the artsy and hip kid's home turf. It smelled heavily of lacquer, wood, and as she went down the hall and passed some stairs leading down she could smell hot molten metal mingled with the burn wood smell. She slightly remembered some of the boys talking about the classes at the high school while they were playing their last game of baseball before summer ended. They argued about which was better, Woodshop or the Welding classes. Though Helga was interested in both of them, she knew her old classmates better and figured that the classes weren't losing any fingers or limbs over. Knowing them and knowing her luck it's almost a promise it would happen. Maybe in a year or so when their were no longer in the classes she would give them a try.

She continued to look around and saw not only a beautiful painting of a single tree that from left started out as though it was in the middle of spring but as it paned to the left the seasons changed from summer to fall to winter. She made a mental note to take a closer look since even at just a glance it spoke volumes. There were also some paintings down the stairs, or it would be more like it to say there were some stairs on some paintings. Every inch of the walls that went down the curving stairs was covered with different various images forever marked on the walls themselves. First there were planets, then fairies, then some naked chick on her stomach blowing flowers out of her mouth, it was like you took a little 'trip' as you went down those stairs. Helga reminded herself never to take those stairs unless she wanted a migraine, no matter what volumes that chaos filled stair well spoke to her.

She slowly moved into her Art class, the door was a plain wooden one that was open so you could see all the different drawn papers taped on the inside of the door. Some were good, some were just up there to make sure they no one's feelings were hurt. Once in the room, to her happiness, she saw the room was painted a different color then the rest of the classrooms she had been in all day! Given it was some odd light orange-beige color, but at least it was **different**, not only that the random splatters of different colors of paint that specked the walls added a dirty-studio look to it all, though Helga felt more at home with a pen in her left and a little pink book in her right this room came pretty close to it.

A crooked smile was on her face as she felt good to see something off the beaten track of the rest of the school. She found a seat, again towards the back of the class facing an easel with a large rectangular canvas on it. The teacher was nowhere in sight, instead of doodling, since she had doodled all day she was in the mood to write for a change. Normal she would refrain since writing seemed to always bring her to a special football-headed boy who was too far from her reach, but she figured she had to do something to pass the time and well the room put her in an odd mood so maybe she could try her hand at writing something else besides the stupid football head. As she began to write she thought of the picture she saw before she entered the classroom, the one of the different seasons.

G_entle kiss of lightest breeze_

_Grasp and tangle, stay and dwell_

_Warm my cheeks with such light ease_

_Return my sweet Angel_

Helga was interrupted with not the sudden silence of the class but the sudden loud noise of the teacher addressing the class. Helga stopped and looked at her work, she sighed when she realized her thoughts had indeed swayed to Arnold yet again. She had to change the subject of her mind and so she started to listen lightly into what the teacher was saying. And even if she had not thought of Arnold she couldn't have concentrated anyway with the booming voice of the teacher, it was the perfect distraction.

"I class, am Mrs. Brown! And I want to welcome you all!" Mrs. Brown passed out some papers that was the syllabus. Helga was quickly losing interest and contemplated going back to doodling again, especially with Mrs. Brown's get up. She had jean overalls on with a blue, brass studded shirt underneath making her look ridiculous. Her blond hair was cut very short and Helga couldn't tell if it was so blond it was white or if she was just getting old. She looked to the students and recognized a few people in the class, one of them interestingly enough was Sheena. She always thought she'd go into Drama. She realized she had zoned out for a bit when she noticed the class was getting noisy again.

"That's right class, so let me see who I'll be calling up first…"

'Oh no.' Helga thought, 'What is this teacher planning…or has planned?'

"Ken Bakers, please come up I have a few different colors and brushes but remember you have only 2 minutes ok? Go as soon as you're ready!" Helga let out a sigh of relief that for one of the few times in her life fate didn't put her in a spot that was too horrible, which as she got older she noticed more and more. Fate had slowly become her biggest enemy always catching her off guard and making any little problem somehow turn into the worst it could have been.

She once stubbed her toe bad enough to bleed, which she thought that she'd be fine for the day, but the PE teacher decided to do a surprise test that was the pre-test to their athletic final. She not only somehow bleed though her sock and though it wasn't outside of her shoe she couldn't wear her shoes without getting her socks colored red for about a month till the blood from inside the shoe wore off.

She watched as the student, Ken, walked up to the canvas at the front, a wheeled table now next to it with a large variety of paints and brushes. The kid was obviously nervous but it didn't take him long to decided on what to paint. It was in the top right corner and was a sloppy painting of a foot kicking a soccer ball all painted in green. Once he was done he turned to his classmates and quietly spoke about the drawing, but only those in the front could hear him. Still Helga got the gist of what this was. She did had to say she liked it a lot better than the typical ice breaker her other classes had and besides all she had to do was paint something in a random color it seamed and the teach would be happy as cat on catnip! After a couple of other classmates went Helga soon heard her name called. Helga knew exactly what she was going to paint and had also decided the color, a blood red skull, just to freak out her other class mates and also keep them away from her and it would be accompanied by a death-threat good old Helga G. Pataki style! Helga approached the canvas and grabbed a brush with some harder bristles, she was about to dunk the tip of the brush deep into the darkest red she saw when Mrs. Brown's voice rang in her ears.

"Now remember to paint something that is a part of you Helga! Something that you _love_ and inspires you! Something that you could never part with!"

Apparently fate really did have other plans for Helga. If it hadn't been for the scenario she endured this morning before the first bell things might have been different. But the room had helped put Helga in a strange mood, and instead of her thoughts quickly sifting to what it had been long before instead it brought her thoughts to before Arnold left, and the many pink books and letters she had now written to him every day. She reminisced of his good natured attitude, how he always seemed to do what was right, and how regardless of what she did to him back them he would still help her when she hit some of the harder times in her life or with her problems. Before she knew it she dipped her brush into a sun-yellow paint can.

'Oh Arnold, my greatest love. The one who has always been a part of my very soul since the first time we met! How much I think about the kiss we shared in San Lorenzo when you finally showed the blossom of love that I had forever desired! Oh Arnold how I wish I could go back before you left to a time when I could admire you every day mu little love god!' With her last though she jabbed the brush hard onto the canvas and looked up at what she had drew, her eyes grew wide at how stupid she could be at just the simple mention of 'love'. She had indeed painted with the golden paint an outline of Arnold's head. Quickly she changed it the best she could with the first thing that came to her mind.

She took a step back and turned to the teacher who looked quizzically at her waiting for her to respond. Helga thought frantically on what to say becoming more and more nervous as she faced the class, eventually she swallowed hard and put on her best scowl.

"It's a tree ok, and if anyone's got a problem with it then I'll paint you black and blue!" She shook her fish and the teacher just smiled at her. 'This can't be good.'

"And why Helga did you choose a tree?"

"Criminy teach, I don't know. Maybe I just like trees. Is there something wrong with that?" Helga folded her arms still scowling at the teacher.

"No, but there must be something deeper Helga." She smiled a warm smile at her as Helga started to get really angry. She also noticed some of the kinds start to back away from the front of the room.

"Well there isn't. I just liked the painting out in the hall and decided to paint it, is that a crime?" Mrs. Brown suddenly got this odd cocky smile Helga had never seen on a teacher before.

"No it isn't, but I think that it's wonderful! That painting was done by a very special student of mine many years ago, maybe you two are kindred spirits!" Helga stared at her like she grew a second head. "Thank you for sharing with us Helga! Next is Kimberly! Kimberly please come up and show us something that brings you happiness!"

That moment Helga decided she didn't want to ever take another Art class ever again. She just hoped this one would be over soon.

Helga started to vigorously draw again this time just pictures of the teacher and various things she noticed about her. Her crooked nose that looked like someone had broken it a couple of times and that she had the body of a 20 year old and the face of an 80 year old. There were a few other students who she did the same as she did with Helga, but none of them got that cocky grin she gave her. The last thing Helga wanted was for this teacher to make her ' her project' student. Helga instead of doodling instead started to write various plans that she could get out of the class.

Soon the bell rung and when she heard its high pitch ring she threw her stuff in her bag and quickly stomped out of the door and ignored the teacher as she heard her call out to her.

Soon Helga was off the bus, back at home, and inside her room. Helga locked herself in her room and started to trample about her room after she flung her book bag into her bed.

"Easy A my ass. What was I thinking taking that Art class!" She kicked over the small trashcan by her bed. "Sure I don't mind drawing every now and then but that teacher is gonna drive me up the wall, I just know it! Not only that…" Helga trailed off as she looked towards her closet.

Her actions started to be slightly slower and her face relaxed. She strode over to her closet and quietly opened the doors and as soon as she got inside she reached for a simple large brown box on the top shelf. She pulled it down and brought it to her bed and opened the container. She gazed at the few different letters that were inside of the box, and though the collection was that of nothing more than scraps compared the size of her bookshelf filled with little pink books or the quantity of letters held inside pink binders beside that; for these letters she would burn all of her pink books just to keep these, to keep Arnold's letters.

Her heart panged and pulled in her chest painfully as she looked at them. She thought of how she could never bring herself to be able to send one back, and thought she knew she would fix a lot of the longing and the loneliness in her own heart, as well as the many questions Arnold had written, she figure if she did she want say the wrong thing. With how far apart they were Helga didn't want to ruin what was left at this point. Though in his letters what he mostly talked about was missing Hillwood, and why she never showed up no the last day he was there, or why she never wrote him. She knew if she did write back that he wouldn't believe what she had to say or it would make matters worse. Tears started to swell in her eyes as she felt the longing pulse though her veins to finally hold him once more. She quickly closed the box and slid it under her bed. She would read them tonight when she wasn't full of so much hate from school and sadness from the lack of her prince.

She always had trouble with dealing in her pent up emotions, all she wanted to do when she bottled them up was sleep for the lack of a better solution. She thought about seeing Phoebe but remembered that she and Gerald had planned a date and she did want the chance of seeing them together and become jealous again. She lay down on her bed that was very old now from the many years of her sleeping in it and her parents not replacing it. Her blanket on top was purple with pink and white hearts all over, she thought about how she really needed to get some more money out of her parents to get some new covers and if she got enough possibly a new bed as well. However she tossed the thought aside for the moment since if she did it too often then in the times that she really needed to wring some money from them she might find the well dry. Instead she grabbed one of the hot pink books that were on a shelf that had not been quite filled yet and she jumped into her bed wrapping the covers around her thinking of what it would be like to no longer be lonely while jotting the words that flew from her mind onto the page.

It was only a few weeks in and Helga loathed her Art class more every day that went by. It didn't matter where she sat Ms. Brown would always come by to her desk and start to ask question about what she was creating today and to _explain_ it. Helga watched her intently one day and found that she did seem to do it at random, but for some reason she would always see Helga at least once a day in class. By the first month Helga started to skip the class every Monday and would sneak out of the school thought the AP building. She had the week before once school was out to case the school for possible exits and found that if you went outside thought the back doors of the AP building that all you had to do was slip under a metal gate and you were off campus and if done before the last bell rang you were home free, usually.

It was now towards the end of September, she had skipped twice before now and was contemplating just not attending the class anymore when Sheena walked by her before she could head downstairs towards the dirt road of freedom.

"Hey Helga! Where were you yesterday? I hope you didn't get sick over the weekend again!" Sheena hadn't changed much from when she was in P.S. 118, except that she was taller than Helga, which most girls weren't. One thing she knew is that she might still be able to sneak away, but now she had Sheena's attention, which in advertently caught the attention of Mrs. Brown who was outside of the classroom door.

"Like it's **any** of your business Sheena." Helga stormed over to the classroom, she noticed that Mrs. Brown had a huge stupid grin on her face as she found her seat.

After a few minutes of doodling she heard the class bell chime lightly signaling the start of class. Hopefully the next hour and so minutes would pass easily so that she could get out of this horrid classroom. The class quickly became quite and Mrs. Brown's voice rang off the walls of the room.

"All right, I hope everyone thought about what you're going to be doing for our project today!" Oh yeah, the other reason Helga wanted to miss today. "So quickly we don't have much time, the paints are all on the cart and as you can see all the brushes are in the cup on your table." Helga remembered she mentioned this last week, she hadn't thought about it at all since she wanted to just avoid the whole thing.

Mrs. Brown turned out to be more of one of those 'touchy feely' types since she was always telling everyone to "Reflect their souls" onto the damn paper. Helga didn't want to 'pour' her soul on to a damn flimsy piece of paper or onto some crappy fabric because someone said to. She was annoyed, angry, and to top it all off she got her first letter in the months from Arnold that morning, and it wasn't the nicest letter he's ever sent her.

'You know what.' She thought, 'Fine, I'll play your little game, and I'll paint you something that you'll never forget. I'll give her a piece of Helga Pataki.'

With a fury in her eyes she went to the front grabbed a small container and threw a couple of paints into it, ripped a canvas out of the hands of one of the students and went back to her desk. She set out what she had got a palate to squirt the paints on and some water and went to work.

Helga's brush swept furiously over the canvas constantly dipping into new paint or being cleaned in the water. After a while she went over to the left side of the room where there were a few easels lined against the wall, she took one and brought it back to her desk so that she could have an easier time painting.

The hour passed quickly and the bell's shriek rang though the halls but Helga didn't hear it. Sheena tried to talk to Helga but her voice never reached her ears. She never heard Mrs. Brown calling Helga's parents to let them know she was just finishing a project for Art class and she never noticed any of the times Mrs. Brown came and changed her water of gave her more paint. Helga only finally looked up when she was finished.

Somewhere in her fevered strokes of the brush she forgot she was just doing this to stick her finger at the teacher so she would just leave her alone and along the way she found more and more it was something she wanted to do. Helga gazed at it feeling exhausted and satisfied with her work. She was very rough around the edges with a brush her work showed it but all it did was make it more abstract. In her pause she realized the classroom was very quiet, she looked around and found the room completely empty except for Mrs. Brown in her back room office working on some kind of project or paperwork. Panic struck Helga as she stood up and whirled around to look out the small window behind her. She was met with her campus covered in a dark veil with a few lights littered the campus grounds, leaking a foreboding yellow light that washed in large circles around their bases. She ran over towards Mrs. Brown as her voice cracked with panic.

"Why didn't you tell me the bell had rung? Why didn't you get rid of me hours ago?!" Helga was truly more pissed at herself, if she hadn't gotten so worked up and so into the painting this never would have happened. But it would be a cold day in the Sahara Desert before she ever admitted she was in the wrong.

"I know my students Helga, and you're not the first to be so inspired."

"Let's get this straight sister, you know **nothing** about me!" Mrs. Brown stood up from her desk and faced Helga with what Helga could only recall as the first time she saw no shit-eating-grin on the woman's face but rather a small frown, the wrinkles on her face showed and bent down making the already older women look far past what she should be.

"I know when I see inspiration and I know well enough to let it roam." Helga was glaring daggers at her teacher, who at some point had removed the tacky jean overalls and was wearing a red shirt sleeve shirt and black pants. If Helga wasn't so flustered she would have laughed at her teacher looking like a blond old Rhonda.

"I don't care what you know, all I know is that I want nothing to do with this class or your silly artsy-fartsy soul draining ideals!" Mrs. Brown had a frown on her face now but didn't say a word. Instead she quickly went into a small closet to her right. Helga was surprised since her office was more of a very small hall way then an office, her desk was small and crammed against the left wall and there was a door at each side each leading to a classroom, one she was currently in. So for her teacher to still have more doors and things around her office just seemed cramped and like the worst possible place for an office. After a few second Mrs. Brown came back and walked past Helga with a large canvas in her hands. After finding a good easel and placing the picture on it she motioned for Helga to come and look. At first Helga was just going to grab her bags but she was intrigued, so she walked over to take a peek.

It was definitely the painting of someone who was a well-seasoned painter. The colors were bright and vibrant, even the dark blues and greens seemed to be giving of some sort of a 'light feel' at first glance it looked as though it was just a painting of odd and wild shapes with different colors filled in their center but with a closer look it was two girls talking to one another. The hues of the painting and the body language of the girls made Helga think of deep friendship, like what she and Phoebe had.

"This was done by a Student of mine a few years ago, her name is Gloria. She acted much like you." Mrs. Brown looked over at Helga with a smile that had replaced the frown. Helga's face was just blank as she not only looked but felt the picture and it's meaning.

"She wanted nothing to do with Art. Said the brushes would break her nails. In the end she gave it a try and couldn't put the brush down. This one is one of her's that she's let me keep." Helga didn't bite the bait.

"I don't care what she did, in the end it's what I want to do." Helga folded her arms, she knew what this pill of a teacher was trying to do, she was trying to turn her into another one of her understudy-artists like this so-called 'Gloria'. She wasn't about to give in. "And what I want to do is to get out of this blasted class!" Helga needed to leave before she was somehow tricked into something she would regret. She ran to her things grabbed what she could in her arms and ran out the door.

Mrs. Brown shook her head, having dealt with students a lot meaner and a lot ruder then her. She started cleaning up the mess the young girl left behind. Once all the brushes were cleaned and paints put away she moved Helga's painting into the back room past her desk. As she was about to leave she eyed the painting and smiled. She could see the figure of what she was sure was Helga herself walking bravely down a flight of crumbling stone steps that were being pulled apart by two odd shadows. Helga was dressed in darker clothes with only a pink bow on her head as the only bright color, but even that pink seamed dark and morbid. The Shadows below and around her were grasping and pulling at all they could in her path. There were swirled of dark blues, greys, and reds that encompassed the darkness around her and the steps and at the bottom where there was no longer any pathway just a few hovering stones was a light from a doorway the crept and was the only color to really shatter the darkness around her. Before Mrs. Brown shut off the lights to let the painting dry in the room she thought that the light the seeped from the doorway in Helga's picture looked oddly like the tree Helga has painted on the first day of class.

Helga got home safely that night, and when she got home she found Mariam downing another smoothie and Big Bob watching The Wheel, it was like she hadn't come home late at all. She yelled out to them, saying she was home and as per-usually she got no response. Once in her room she didn't know what to do. She didn't know if she wanted to just go to bed and take a break from the world or if she wanted to parade her anger around the room. She even thought about going back out and to the park, to just get away from her norm and be able to think. It didn't matter where she went there was still the art class and it's odd teacher loomed in her mind. She reached in her bag and searched for her notebook. After flipping though a few pages she found the one where she had written down some ideas as to how to get out of the class. She had already tried a few, she tried to convince Phoebe to switch with her and take her place, she tried to get the class changed out for another, and she tried to get her parents to sign a note to get her out of class. She was still suck with having to escape the campus grounds in order to avoid the class. She had tried a while ago to completely skip a full week and found they will randomly have someone at the gates except for Mondays. Sometimes they won't be there, but for whatever reason Mondays were her best bet to get out, but she had already been doing that.

"There's got to be another way out of the school!" Helga fell backwards onto her bed. "I mean other kids get out all the time, so there has to be some way to easily get out." Helga thought for a moment thinking of all the different places on campus and soon an idea popped into her mind. As long as she was willing to do a bit of climbing she might be able to have a fool proof plan to get out of her ridiculous Art class.

If Helga's theory was right, at the back end of the PE building the fence was completely unguarded. The only problem was getting back there in the first place since the PE area was always a buzz with students and teachers. She had a few run ins with the campus security when she tried to get out over by the AP building but she always was able to give them the slip before the really saw her and would just show up to class late. So how much harder could getting over the fence be?

She was walking with a large herd of other kids heading over towards the large gym where all the P.E. classes were held. She kept her body calm and relaxed as much as she could, keeping in stride with the others around her as to not alert the campus security that liked to watch as the student passed by, ready to chase down any that decided to wonder into the parking lot and head to the open gated exit. She knew that right after the bell rang that same guard would move to the gate to freedom itself to catch any of those who would sneak out the same path she took on her Monday's, so it was safe to say she wouldn't have to worry about that guard as long as she didn't jump the wrong fence.

She began to breathe deeply to keep herself cool as she entered the building, the first thing she did was duck into the girl's bathroom. There in a stall she waited until she heard the last student leave and the final bell to get to class. Once she heard that she pulled her backpack tight against her and slinked out into the hallway looking for any signs of teachers.

*click*

Her heart nearly leapt out of her chest when she heard the click of one of the doors to the Gym got pushed. Helga dived back inside the bathroom in a panic. It didn't matter if a fellow student saw her as much as a teacher and she was not taking any chances. Helga quickly crawled over to the door and listened as the light squeak of shoes slowly died out. She again slowly peeked her head out, looking towards the doors and down the hall, finding that whoever they were they were gone. She began to get nervous though since if she didn't move fast soon the other students would be out and about the Gym and outside running laps, and so would their teachers.

She had to move quickly and broke into a quick jog she headed past the statue of the school mascot in the middle of the large hall she was in and headed to the left hall and saw two of the large red metal doors at the end of the hall. She continued to jog towards the doors when she heard a door open from somewhere ahead of her and a light female's voice echo towards her.

"…because if you're sure you can cover for me next week it would be a great help."

Helga stopped and looked around, behind her she saw a now open door and the back end of a leg she assumed as a teachers. In a panic she quickly glanced and saw that there was another set of double doors just a bit down the hallway. She quietly snuck to them and opened the doors hiding behind them. She rested her back against the door, palms firmly pressed against the door as well steadying herself in the case she needed to run. As she heard the talking from where she came from start to get louder she looked around. The other side she knew was the boy's side of the gym, not only that all down the hall were open doors and she could be caught easily if there was anyone in them. She crossed her fingers and just hoped that whoever was in the hallway would pass her by without notice of her. Her breathing she tried to keep under control and quiet as to not alert anyone, but her heart was beating quickly with panic. Louder and louder the steps became, there was at least two of them and since they sounded older they were a huge threat.

It wasn't long before she could hear at least one of them right behind her on the other side of the door. Helga held her breath and felt the urge to bolt grew to an almost unbearable point. She waited and held tight for any feeling of the door moving, she closed her eyes and thought over and over again for them to not open the door.

"Wait, I think I'll need your help first in setting up things in the Gym. I've got to go and do roll call before they become restless."

"Alright. What are you having them do today?"

Helga eyes went wide as she heard the footsteps move away from the door. Her muscles relaxed, though her heart was still going a thousand miles a minute. It didn't matter how many times she had snuck into Arnold's house and almost got caught, or the rides she went on at Dino land, or what she did for Arnold to defeat FTi, or even her adventures with Arnold in San Lorenzo; almost getting caught and still getting away was always a thrill.

Again, once the halls quieted with the sounds of doors closing she entered back into the hall and ran for the double doors. Once she reached them she took a quick glance around and quietly pushed them open. She looked outside and breathed a sigh of relief to find herself alone outside looking out at the football field. She was behind the giant bleachers and was under complete shade from the gym building. She didn't want to waste much more time, she had already lost enough almost getting caught twice now. Breaking into a run she headed north towards the fence and the absolute farthest end of the school.

At the fence she took a good look at it. It wasn't a chain-link fence like they had at some parts at the school but rather large 8ft high metal bar fence that ran around the entire perimeter of the school except the student parking lot. There were two vertical bars holding the many, un-spiked, beige poles that made the fence and Helga quickly jumped and grabbed the high vertical bar. She started to easily pull herself up her chin just about to pass the top of the horizontal bars when she heard a shout from behind her.

"HEY! Stop where you are little missy!"

There was one thing that ran though Helga's mind when she heard him. 'RUN.'

She let go of the fence and sprinted into a hard run back towards where she came from. She needed to figure out how to lose the guy fast. She looked behind her to see who it was and saw that it was one of the male gym teachers, one that looked like if she got away it was a miracle. 'Shit. Just my luck!' There was no way she was going to be able to out run him for sure. She glanced around, adrenaline pumping though her, when she saw she was coming to the entrance of the bleachers and an idea struck. She quickly turned and ran up the ramp the teacher right behind still calling for her to stop. Once she was near the steps she jumped up a few of them and once she reached the 5th step she positioned herself to jump down though the gap between the seats. She waited until she could see his eyes and then launched herself towards the ground, glad she was just the right size to fit though. She rolled across the dirt that was under the bleachers and as soon as her feet touched ground again she was in her sprint headed towards the fence and the back of the building.

The teacher let out an angry yell behind her for despite his fit physique he was still too large to fit between the gaps and had to run back down the way he came. She crossed the dirt back to concrete and could hear his heavy steps down the metal walkway she lowered her body and extended her strides hoping to increase her speed, wanting to at least get behind the building and make him lose sight of her. 'If I don't get caught I swear I'll only ditch Monday's!' Helga screamed in her mind as she heard him start to catch up again. She grabbed the edge of the building as she rounded the corner using it to help her turn sharply and not lose momentum. Keeping her pace she scanned the new area for anything to help her get away she saw a red door, it wasn't far from her at all so she hope that it was open. In the background she heard the hard smack of concrete hitting skin and a pained yelp from the teacher; that bought her some time and made the door look like a good chance to get away. She stopped and grasped the handle and pulled hard, but the door didn't budge. It was either somehow get the door open or continue to run from the teacher. She tried the door one more time pulling as hard as she could.

"Criminy open you fucking door!" she said in a fairly quiet angry voice. She gave up, it wasn't going to budge, she moved away from the door and took the first step into her run again. Quicker the she could react though the door opened and someone grabbed her by the collar of her shirt yanking her inside. The door was spring loaded and closed quickly when she was fully inside. A hand moved over her mouth as she found herself incomplete darkness without knowing exactly where she was. Once the door clicked she felt her attacker move and lock the door and Helga thought the worst. She started to fight and kick but the hand held her mouth while another hand tried to stop her from striking it's owner. She froze up when she heard another yell from the teacher whom she had been running from.

She and her abductor were completely motionless, praying that they could not be caught. They heard the teacher's footsteps thumping in a rush towards the door. After a few moment the foot movement stopped and ice ran though Helga's veins as the teacher began to yank on the door as she had just a few minutes ago. The teacher mumbled something outside of the door and ran further down the walkway. Soon the only noise besides the occasional noises from the teacher was the heavy breathing of the two inside the cramped space. Once it was completely quiet and it felt as though they stood frozen for an hour or more Helga decided that now was a good of time as any to get moving. Snapping out of her frozen state she quickly shoved whoever was still holding their hand on her mouth knocking them over into some of the stuff that was in the room with them. As she felt a few things hit her feet she started reaching around for a light switch or something above her that might turn on some kind of light. Her hands rubbing against a wall in the direction she had entered.

"I don't know who you are but I'm going to ring your neck once I can see you!" Helga whispered angrily. She then felt an outward dent with the little switch she had been searching for and quickly flipped it. She spun around to face her assailant and the moment she could see them Helga's mouth became agape. Now that all the danger was gone, she could clearly hear his wheezing and in the new light saw very familiar blonde spiky hair and glasses poking out from a pile of various athletic equipment.

Brainy was leaned against, and buried slightly under a heap of various balls, equipment, some netting, and a plastic hockey stick rested on his head. A couple of baseballs, tennis balls, and a soccer ball were moved and rolled down the pile as Brainy lifted his right hand from under the pile. His hand opened and waved a small wave was he paused for a second in his wheezing.

"Uh….Hi." Helga didn't know if she should be livid or confused or happy.

"Brainy what in the hell are you doing here?" Helga was flabbergasted that Brainy had done been the person to pull her from the clutches of a teacher and he was the least likely person she thought would be here in the first place. She thought that Brainy had moved to another state and hadn't seen him in about two years. She kicked away a couple of the various sports items as she made her way over to Brainy and held out her hand. Brainy wheezed a couple of times and shrugged his shoulders as he took hold of her hand and she quickly brought him up to standing. He face was kind of blank and Helga had a hard time reading what he was thinking, but this was Brainy so she wasn't worried at all.

"I thought that you moved to like Florida or something, what are you doing here saving my ass?"

"Uh….Ohio….We moved back….this summer." Helga looked him over, he wore a light grey hoody and dark denim jeans. His hoody looked like he had painted something on the back himself but she could only see the edges of whatever it was creep around the sides. His glasses had changed a bit too, they were a little newer but still the same shape as his old one but with a blue rim instead of a black. Helga was actually a little glad to see him. She still owed him for helping her back in San Lorenzo, she didn't want to think of that now though. Right now if she was still going to get out for the day she needed to leave right then.

"Ok. Awesome. Fantastic Brainy. Look," She started moving towards the door her muscles in her arms started to feel twitchy. "I need to get out this school and I'm running out of time. I don't know why your here but sorry bub but I'm heading out." She gripped the door's handle and unlocked the door.

"Wait…." Helga froze with a questioning look on her face as Brainy walked through the mess to her. Once at the door he motioned for her to move away and she did her hands now on her hip as she lightly tapped her foot on the ground.

"Brainy I haven't got all day, literally I probably have a few seconds!" He poked his head out side, looked around and then turned to Helga.

"Follow me." Helga raised an eyebrow at Brainy's odd actions, or maybe not so odd, she couldn't tell. Though he might slow her down she figure she could follow and in the least possibly use him to get away worse case scenario. Brainy would understand and forgive her, she'd just owe him another favor.

They both walked outside and Helga kept looking nervously around her shoulders as she followed Brainy further west along the building. Soon Brainy stopped and looked at Helga with this very odd smile on his face as he reached over to one of the bars of the fence. Without any problems, tugging, pulling, or anything Brainy swung the bar over giving the two teenagers enough room to slip though the fence and be free. Helga's mouth was agape for the second time that day. She took note of it for future use. 'Ok, maybe fate doesn't hate me so much after all.' She thought once she regained her senses.

"Home free finally! Thanks Brainy." Helga said quietly as she moved quickly though the hole and then in turn held the bar for Brainy to climb though. Once they did they found themselves in a dirt alleyway with the backs of a couple of large buildings next to them and then a small alleyway. The quickly both ran down the alley and to the left as far as they could get from the school.

They both found themselves with a lot of time to kill, and for Helga not a lot to do. Helga decided that as a way to pay Brainy back for him saving her from getting caught she at least owed him a soda or something. It was better than owing him something later, she hated having to pay back favors later and tried to take care of them as quickly as she could. At the suggestion of a soda as pay back Brainy quickly agreed and the two teens set off.

Once at the nearest corner store she bought him a fountain drink that wasn't much at all, Helga even tried to talk him into a more expensive soda or a few of them but he insisted that it was 'Fine…' so Helga just let it drop. They headed bout outside with their drinks in hand listening to the silence between them.

The most Brainy and her had ever talked was on the San Lorenzo trip, and even when he moved he only said "Uh….Bye." it wasn't anything special. Helga would be lying if the little geek hadn't won her friendship though with his actions in the jungle, and besides it was nice to finally have a friend that wasn't talking a million words a minute. Though Phoebe never really talked that much, it was nice to just enjoy the quiet of the city.

To keep them from loitering the front of the store Brainy suggested they head to a park that was near by, far enough from the school but close enough to home.

There was a small breeze that swept over the large park, mostly it was crab grass and stony dirt with a few places for children to play about the area but it was truly enjoyable for Helga and she felt relaxed and even stress free, which she needed with that damn teacher of her's. But something had been bugging her, what exactly was Brainy doing there? Curiosity got the better of her and she broke the silence that she didn't know had already been lasting about half an hour. Helga looked over and saw Brainy nursing the end of his straw.

"So…" Brainy suddenly jumped from being jolted out of his thoughts, Helga continued though she stiffed a laugh for Brainy's reaction. "what were you doing in that closet anyway Brainy?"

"Same as you…"

"Well DOI, I kinda figured that considering we're both not on the school grounds anymore." Something bugged her though, she put her drink next to her on the bench they were sitting on and crossed her arms. "I mean how did you even get in there in the first place? It's obvious it locks behind you automatically, and last time I check bucko magic to open any locked door doesn't exist." She glowered at Brainy as she tapped a finger against her arm, as much as she owed the dork she wasn't one known for being patient or willing to wait. Helga paused and stared at disbelief when Brainy held up a small ring of keys. 'Oh Brainy, you're the best friend to get into trouble with aren't you.' She toyed with the idea in her mind of finding more ways for the two of them to get into trouble, but she decided that could just wait for another time. Sounded like fun but she figured right now she can get anything she needed if she really had to.

"Sticky fingers I see, well I have to hand it to you Brainy you might be better at this whole ditching and sneaking thing then me." Helga let out a light laugh as Brainy smiled at her and seemed to laugh as well. 'In reality, fat chance sorry Brainy. But it's a funny idea.' Helga felt pride creep around her skill warming her skin, she didn't want to say it out loud so that she didn't ruin the joke.

"What…where you doing?" Helga was caught a bit off guard and her face went blank. Should she tell him, did it matter? In the past with him she never told him anything that was going on even if he asked. It was just how she was then. She's found in the past few years she's been more easy to let others get unimportant information, stuff that wasn't worth fighting over. 'I guess I've just been getting tired of always fighting.' Ultimately she decided it didn't matter at all. Brainy wasn't in her class and doesn't know the teacher either. Plus even if he was it wouldn't change her future actions away.

"It's plain as a sheet of paper 'I was running from getting caught ditching' but if you really need to know the why, I was getting out of my crazy art class. Shitty class, shitty teacher, wants us to be all 'in touch with our sensitive side' worse than Simmons was." Helga's voice began to elevate with her obvious distaste for the teacher as she started to wave her arms in various eccentric arm motions emphasizing her frustration.

"She wants us to paint them as well. Not only that she's hell-bent on making me her 'understudy of the year' and hovers over me almost the whole damn class! It's ridiculous I tell you. I've got to find some why out of that class before it kills me!" She took a deep breath, flopping her hands back to her side. "I planned to take that class to get a free ticket for a good grade and just be ignored for the semester not be some forced teacher's pet." Helga let her gaze drift back over to Briany to see if he had anything to say on the matter. Brainy was quiet for a moment which cause Helga to hold a slight tinge of regret just spilling everything to Brainy who probably didn't give two rat's asses what was going on with her. Pushing her remorse out of her mind she broke the silence.

"So do you plan to break out of that prison every day from here on out?" Helga smirked, if Brainy was willing to work with her breaking out of that place would get considerably easier. She just had to find out if his plans are the same as her's then convince him to tag along with her.

"Just…special occasions." Helga scowled as she stared back out towards the park. 'Well that's plan's out the window. Lets try plan b.

"Well, then if you won't be using them mind if I borrow those keys of yours?" She folded her arms again snug to her chest. It might not be likely he'll let her borrow the keys but it's worth a try.

"Can't…my Mom, she'll notice." That made Helga's head spin.

"Your Mom works for the school?" She watched Brainy nod with a smile on his face. 'Well I be damned.' Helga let her mind wonder a bit, "Do you know what **I **would do if my Mom was an employee of that shit hole? Oh the fun I would have!" Helga heard Brain laugh over his wheezes. Helga grinned an evil grin as she thought of all the schemes she could plan, work year round to make the perfect prank she could just easily push off on the Seniors of every year as their last hurrah. This time it was Helga's turn to jump when Brainy's alarm clock from his wristwatch went off. Helga scrambled a bit as she knocked over her drink and attempted to act as though she was not jostled by the sudden noise.

"So…school's out." He said to Helga who was currently turned away from him fussing with her tipped cup. She heard Brainy move as he stood up from the bench. Helga finally grasped the spilling object and turned to the boy just about to just say a quick goodbye for in her fumble she figure some way to end up spilling on herself, but she was cut off. "Same thing….tomorrow?" Helga was now starting to get ticked off at the spiky haired boy.

"What happened to that 'special occasion' crap you said earlier?" She got off the bench as well as she could feel her nerves slam into defensive mode. "Listen, if your just messing with me for all the times I socked ya, don't hesitate to think that I won't just beat you to the punch and put all those times to shame in a moment bucko!" Brainy now was waving his hands in front of him attempting to show her that is indeed not something he wanted to add to his day.

"No…uh…"

"No what? Spill it!"

"It's not everyday…you ask for help." Helga didn't know what to think. It was like a slap in her face because Helga G. Pataki never asked for help. Hell a **Pataki** never asked for help! She didn't want his help and wanted to enlist his services. Ok, so maybe she did want to get his help but she never came right out and said it. Mixed with her frustration at herself she still figure that as long as he was offering she wouldn't pass this up, as soon as she cleared something up with him.

"Lets get this straight, I did not at any time ask you for help Brainy. However, since your offering I would be glad to help **you.**" Regardless of if he fought her on this or not this was her story and she was sticking to it. Brainy had a smug smirk curl onto his face which made her scowl at the boy.

"Uh…ok."

"Good. I've got stuff to do I'll meet you outside of the cafeteria tomorrow. If you make me wait I'll make sure you get reunited with an old friend of yours that liked to break your glasses." She held up Old Betsy, her fist clenched tight. She felt her muscles flex and twitch itching to be used to throw a few punches, especially with how she felt. She needed to get out of there till she started beating Brainy till she felt better. Helga headed across the park the way that the two had originally came from heading towards the school hoping she could find Phoebe and hang with her the rest of the day.

Over the next two days Helga and Brainy would meet up and use the back side of the school and the various broken fence bars to be able to escape the school easily and luckily without as much trouble as the first day. They were unwilling to go towards the gym area because according to Brainy his Mother talked about them increasing the 'guard' of that area because two students had somehow left the grounds on that side of the school. During this time Helga and Brainy got to talk and catch up a bit, Helga felt she might have someone to add to her list of friends/people she could extort if everything continued smoothly. Brainy wasn't too argumentative so she thought to probably put him on the friend side of that list.

Come the second day once she had returned home Helga's Dad was waiting for her.

As usual Helga opened the door to the less the warm blue colored building she called home. She had been having a pretty decent day. She didn't see Phoebe hanging all over Gerald at all today, her get away was pretty clear today with Brainy, and she had even managed to pull a few strings and get the old Jolly Olle man to give her favorite at half price, no one else ate it anyway. Once she opened the door to her home, one backpack strapped to her left shoulder, she found her self staring at her Father yelling over the phone.

"What do you mean she's not been in class for five days!"

Maybe if she was really quiet and quick about it she could make it up to her room. No, bad idea, she can get cornered there. She panicked, there has to be another way around Bob, wait, doi back out the door! Helga spun on her left heel and want to head back outside.

"Stop right there young lady!" Helga froze, she never was very good at running away from her Dad once he caught her. He slowly turned around to him putting on her sweetest smile and tried to look as small as she could.

"Oh, hey Dad. Hows it goin? The old beeper store going well." Bob glowered at her and she knew that she wouldn't be able to get out of this one. "Oh boy." She muttered under her breath. 'Well, time for damage control.'

Ok, so it wasn't the worst verbal lashing Bob had ever given her, but it was pretty close. Most of it was the whole spiel of 'Pataki's don't do *insert topic subject here*' since he said it for practically everything. Helga found it slightly funny when he found out the class was Art and he became half complacent and made a comment on how it's a class for sissies. However he made it clear that if she missed one more day of school he would walk her to that Art class if he had to. The night felt too quick for the next day was there before Helga could figure out some way to make her father forget to be able to ditch without letting Bob know.

She told Brainy to continue with the plan for the day if he wanted to, and she would be unable to attend for now until things died down. She looked sullen at the AP building from the ground as student trekked towards their rooms as well as the walk way that lead from the AP building's second floor to the English/Math building's second floor. After a few last moments to decide if she really wanted to go through with this and coming to the conclusion it wasn't worth Bob's wrath she headed in though the ground doors.

Inside her eyes immediately stung a bit from the lingering smoke from the welding classes most recent projects as well as the ever present, but more potent now that she was on the bottom floor, smell of scorched lumber. She moved up the square spiral staircase that lead to the second floor. She briefly noticed that the paintings covered all of the stair well and went from fairy-tale looking paintings to the solar systems she saw when she first saw it, all of it a light run though the twilight zone. She reached the top of the stairs and once she entered the class went a found her typical seat. She had to scare off some kid that was sitting in it but she soon had her feet on the table and didn't stop her fevered glare at the old artist who was currently waltzing around the room handing back projects.

Once class started Mrs. Brown didn't come near Helga, even while she was passing papers she didn't even visit Helga's table. Though that might be partly because she was not the only one at her table Helga thought as she watched the teacher move about. She had explained today's project as a practice which everyone was busy working on. Soon, out of boredom Helga found herself working on the project and once the bell rang she had half way finished it. 'I'll just leave this for her to grab and in the mean time I can just grab my shit and get out of here!' Throwing her bag roughly over her shoulder after placing a few things she had pulled out back in she rushed towards the door. Mrs. Brown was waiting by the door which made Helga glower, 'Maybe she'll just ignore me like she's done all class and I can just head home.' Just as Helga went to pass though the cherry wood door of the Art room she felt a sturdy hand on her shoulder stopping her from continuing out the door.

"Helga, I need to talk to you." She didn't say anything but angrily stormed back towards her seat. She could leave, and then expect another lecture from Bob. He day wasn't too bad and anything this excuse for a educator could do would be nothing compared to her Dad. The last student left and Mrs. Brown closed the heavy door behind them. She walked over towards her office and flipped on a light for a second class room the was adjacent to the one Helga was currently in. Helga couldn't see much of anything from her position and in part the sliver of a hallway that was the home of the teacher made it so vision into the room was limited.

"Helga, please come here, I want you to see something."

"Tsk. Fine, but it better be quick." As Helga maneuvered over to where she was, Mrs. Brown slinked into the room and disappeared. Helga entered the room brickly, she needed to speed this up. Whatever this crack-pot was planning wasn't good and the quicker she could leave the better. She felt a slight feeling of de-ja vu, and quickly realized it reminded her of this Monday. She was very glad it was Friday now. Once inside she noticed the walls were as blank as the many other plaster cells the school contained but however seemed almost blinding with the light that shine in the room. She blinked a few times and adjusted, and when she could absorb what she saw in the room.

Helga was actually quite, speechless. Instead of the room being lined with rows and rows of desks instead it will bursting full of paintings. There were easels holding their treasures on every square inch of the center floor with barely enough room for the thin girl to glide between them. Hanging off and lined leaning against each burning white wall were even more paintings being squeezed together as close as would allow. Helga became lot it the forest of windows and she moved from picture to picture. Some were finished, many she found though to only have small parts of them that were complete at all. She noticed the different styles and found that there were quite a few from some of the same people. She breezed between them her eyes dancing with the colors and tones of each canvas.

She had soon found herself in front of the gate way, the one she entered though to get to this other world of insights to different ideas and dimensions and people, and saw a very familiar painting on a easel that was now leaning against the wall right next to the door. The painting wasn't any different than how she left it but she wanted to be mad, she wanted to be furious, she wanted to go back and talk herself out of doing something so stupid and creating the painting in the first place, but her brain stalled as she stared at the paining. She felt a knot tie up in her stomach oddly, a feeling she hadn't really felt except when her poetry used to be read out loud in Mr. Simmon's class so many years ago. She felt a larger figure move up beside her.

"You have a lot of growing to do Helga," Mrs. Brown started with. Helga gazed up into her dark blue eyes, unable to say a word though her tsunami of emotions. "and I see a lot of potential. I believe you can make some amazing things if you can just give this all a chance."

She wanted to grab the painting and run, or burn it, something to destroy it because she didn't want to admit it to herself it didn't look half bad, or even more that she wanted to make **another** painting that would even better than that. What this teacher was proposing was not something a Pataki should be doing, her Dad had said that last night. Right?

"It's up to you Helga, I'm just your teacher, I can open as many doors as I can for you, it's your choice alone to walk through them." Helga shifted her signs back to the reflection of just a small piece of the girl called Helga Pataki. "As I do for all my students. As long as you let me know a day before you can come in and paint till almost your heart's content."

Her eyes gripped shut. She hated that she actually wanted to take the paste-for-brain's teacher's offer. She wanted to fight her, just say no and throw the painting out the window and show her who Helga G. Pataki is and not to fuck with her. A side of Helga as fighting herself tooth and nail, she wanted to do this. She got lost into the painting and had found another outlet to be able to express her feelings and self in a way that almost spoke more volumes then her pink books. Then there was the factor of being trapped in the class anyways. Helga reached out and gripped the edges of the painting and lifted it above her head, eyes now open and strained on the ground teeth grinding against each other.

'Smash it for petes-sake! Smash it!' her muscles spazzed as she continued to hold the object. The side of her that wanted nothing more than to put the painting down and maybe even start a new one right away said a few choice words and Helga knew it was a losing battle.

"Helga!" Mrs. Brown went to grab the painting out of the young teen's hands but found the girl slowly lower the painting back onto the easel.

"I'll give your stupid class a chance." Helga imagined that she would be furious with herself at her choice, but found herself strangely relieved. "Just…don't hover over me all the time and don't force me to perform in from of the class like some kind of trained monkey ok!" Mrs. Brown smiled brightly at her.

"I'll keep it in mind Helga."

"And with that I'm getting the heck out of here. Later teach" Helga fled though the office and out the door she would have left earlier.

Phoebe had already taken the bus home a while ago and already informed Helga that she would be 'busy' later that day anyway so Helga hoped on the next city bus. Once she was home and in her room she lay there staring at the ceiling thinking over and over again her choice. She didn't know if she was going to hate herself for it, but at least if the teacher held up her side of the 'deal' she wouldn't have to worry about getting out of that class as much.

Her mind drifted to her last thoughts before destroying the canvas, thoughts of Arnold and he would handle it. How he would follow his gut and find some stupid silver lining. How if she wanted to be 'nicer' and be a better person as she always talked about then it was about time she gave in to herself instead of fighting as she had always done. That, and if painting was so much like writing then why not give it another chance.

There was too much of the young Foot-ball head on her thoughts now. She had been doing well not to think of him at all for the past two days, maybe even three but here he was again. She had been avoiding the topic of the little brat since she read his last letter. She wanted to keep it that way, so she rolled over onto her side, still in her clothes, and attempted to take a nap.

Helga slowed her breathing, but soon found her hand to be twitchy as bug had crawled into her skin and seeped it's legs into her bones and wanted to just force her to write, something, anything, as long as she wrote. Ten more minutes passed and it got worse. She couldn't take it today was just not her day. She grunted and shoved herself off the bed and grabbed a few pieces of parchment and a pen. She saved her pink books for poems and right not she wanted to write a letter, as she had been going for the past 4 years, to her foot-ball headed love god and then place the letter into an envelope and hit it with the rest of the letter she had written. She licked the end of the pen, a habit she had picked up somewhere in the past 4 years, and began to sprawl the ink onto the parchment.

_Oh Arnold, my adorable sweet golden drink of honey!_

_How I wish I could send you a letter that would fix the misconception between us. But alas I know that it will not help._

_If I even do see you again, maybe by the will of the gods and the luck you hold of all that is pure I can find a way to explain to you my feelings. How I miss to be able to gaze upon your oblong head and flaxen hair once more in the tangible realm! To smell your sweet fragrance, to bask in the glory that is your justice and sense of right and wrong!_

_Yet all this would not be un-known to you if read even one of my letters! And all the while your life quacking into that of the ever better mine tumbles down the dark path it seems I have been fated to travel!_

_If only I could better express the confides of my soul to you from the lightest hues to the darkest depths! Would you accept me my love?_

_Regardless, I woe that I may have made the wrong choice again my sweet. I thought that perhaps I could try to do what you might choose my love and I fear what might happen._

_However…I feel that this might be a chance for me to open up more, to utilize the many years I have spent creating shrines to you instead in another means. My fool of a teacher says what she will, but I hope that the door I have just walked though is not one that I will regret._

_Life is miserable without you to shine upon Hillwood, like the Sun to the Moon I am dark as it is without it. I hope that soon you will return and again allow the Moon to become full once more._

_With Love,_

_Helga_

Feeling much better, and having some of her stress let it's claws release from her back Helga drug herself back to her bed and this time feel into a slumber and in a dream she walked many halls lined with Paintings she had created.

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